IN This issue, Andy Bailey, VP of Marketing explains why workplace applications are in a category of their own
The difficulty of defining a new category of software is that inevitably comparisons are drawn with previous application categories. In the case of workplace applications, it is often inaccurately compared to business intelligence, portals/dashboards and knowledge management software. Yet, in their focus, breadth and approach, workplace applications are fundamentally in a category of their own.
Workplace applications in its simplest form are about getting things done, specifically tasks that are not, by their nature, process-orientated. In other words the sort of activities that management, knowledge workers and other high-value individuals are engaged in as a key part of their everyday roles.
By contrast, business intelligence is solely about the reporting, slicing, dicing and analysis of structured data. Its function is to keep individuals informed of current and historical data. It draws on internal information that has already been pre-ordered, cleaned and organized. In comparison, workplace applications bring together not just external and internal information (whether structured or unstructured), but also activities and people in real time.
At first glance, our workplace application looks like a dashboard or portal. Both visually represent several sources of data and interactions on a screen. But that’s where the comparisons end. The role of dashboards and portals is to present the data in an easy-to-use interface; by contrast, workplace applications focus on the management of complex, human-driven actions.
Portals may have gained additional functionality – perhaps incorporating some workforce management software – but they remain primarily focused on information display and simple communication. Workforce applications are about collaboration and resolving a particular issue. Every task or piece of information contained within a workforce application is performed in context of a specific activity or problem. A simple analogy is distinguishing between sitting in the passenger seat or in the driver’s seat. A workplace application enables the manager to act and, therefore, he/she is in the driver’s seat.
Knowledge management is one of those software categories that everyone talked about a decade ago, but I’m not sure ever existed. If we define knowledge management as a way of capturing people’s experiences, judgments and knowledge, and extracting this intellectual capital to improve productivity within the organization as a whole, then theoretically workplace applications perform a similar function to knowledge management software.
But what makes this new breed of software applications applicable to the 21st-century workplace is the additional depth of information and actions it delivers. Through a workplace application, relevant parties can view and access all the information and notes attached to a particular project, issue or goal. Every action taken is stored within the platform, providing a historical record as well. What’s more, actions can be contrasted against one another to deliver some additional trends analysis or reference in the future to guide future management decisions. This is corporate knowledge management in the true sense of the term.
Workplace applications are in a category of their own and this real-world example for a client of ours should help to explain why. The customer is a commodity trader that wanted to ensure the profitability of goods being traded throughout the lifecycle of the trade. This is because it can take several months from the initial structuring of a trade through to the delivery of the transaction. During that time, the profitability of the trade can alter due to exchange rate fluctuations, changes in the price of oil or new regulations that might affect the nature of the trade.
Our workplace application allows the commodity trading firm to track all these variables in context of the trade. Not only that, it allows a more proactive, productive and effective method of monitoring and assessing each deal against pre-defined targets and trading limits.
Through greater visibility and control over the trade, the commodity trader is able to reduce company exposure to changes in profitability of the trade and remain competitive.
Herein lies the main advantage of workplace applications: they manage human-driven activities and those traditionally hard-to-manage exceptions. Business intelligence, dashboards, portals and knowledge management each have a role to play in the enterprise, but workplace applications represent a new breed of applications that allow greater foresight, productivity and flexibility in managing complex, specific business activities and issues.
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marketing@attunity.com